KATHMANDU, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Eight different endangered indigenous languages are to be documented with grammar sketches and dictionaries, local newspaper The Kathmandu Post reported Monday.

    The research will be conducted by Central Department of Linguistics of Tribhuvan University with support from the National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN).

    The endangered languages are Raji, Bankariya, Dumi, Thakali, Danuwar, Kishan, Santhali and Kou.

    Chief of Central Department of Linguistics of Tribhuvan University, Yogendra Prasad Yadav, said: "NFDIN will be financially supporting the department in the research and preparation of grammar sketch and dictionary."

    The agreement, reached last Thursday, also provides yearly scholarships to four MA scholars to do research or thesis on indigenous languages.

    The scholarships that will be awarded to linguists coming from indigenous communities amount to 2,500 Nepali rupees (around 40 U.S. dollars) per month per scholar.

    Lok Bahadur Thapa, Member Secretary of NFDIN, said the agreement will not only help preserve endangered indigenous languages but also help produce indigenous resource persons.

    Yadav also said: "With researches on these languages, it will be easier for the government to prepare primary level curriculum in mother tongue, as provisioned in the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007."

    Yadav added that primary education in mother tongue is the best way to preserve a language, as it will be used by the new generation.